Yesterday, I had cause to look at a book entitled ‘Men and Armour for Gloucestershire in 1608’. by John Smith. It is a transcript of the information produced by a military survey of the county of Gloucesteshire in that year. As such, it lists, under hundreds, manors and tithings, the name, occupation or description of each person in the county capable of bearing arms or, if incapacitated, the armour he can contribute. Thus, it contains a list of all the men from the ages of 16 to 60 in Gloucestershire in 1608 and is particularly useful for tracing ancestors in the early 17th century. Also included is a code for the age and another for the stature of the man concerned. For instance, the entry for one man is:

Badgeworth:

Richard Gwynnett, husbandman, 2, m., tr. hath a musket furnished.

The ‘2’ tells us that he is about 40 years (as opposed to 20 or 50-60)

The ‘m’ means that he is of middle stature ‘fitt to make a musketyer’.

Finally, the ‘tr’ means he was a trained soldier at that time.

The best feature of the book is that it has an excellent index which makes searching for your ancestors in the early seventeenth century very easy.